Class Ring Returned After 50 Years

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Our story today begins where it ended, at Red Bud High School. 59 years ago Orville Dumstorff was a teenager in this tiny gym.

"He was very quiet," remembers Joan Rahn. "He was only here his junior and senior year and he was very quiet."

"Very quiet," agrees Ruth Menard. "Very quiet. He was not a clown or anything he was a nice man."

He wore a class ring, graduated and joined the Marines. While stationed in California, Dumstorff decided to see the Palomar Mountain Observatory.

"We got up there and it was snowing so they closed the doors and we never got to see the telescope," says Orville Dumstorff.

But things snowballed into a, well, snowball fight. In the cold chaos the class ring slipped off his finger, lost forever, until three weeks ago when his brother called.

"I was kind of thinking what could happen to my class ring," says Dumstorff. "I ain't got no class ring."

An Oregon woman bought the band at an estate sale, saw the initials and called the high school where today, it was returned to its rightful owner.

"Nose started running eyes started to tear up, fantastic," says Dumstorff. "Well monetary value its not that much but the people behind it. That made it remarkable. Kind of makes you want to hug everybody."

And he did, like Larry and Madonna Hill.

"They kept us in hiding cause they didn't want Orville to see us," says Hill.

Orville introduced the two to each other, 48 years ago.

"I just feel kind of humble with all the people who showed up for me, I didn't do anything great," says Dumstorff.

"Not only was today the first time that Orville had stepped foot in Red Bud high school in more than 50 years," says Patrick Clark. "But his class was the first class to graduate from this building."

Today they saw their friend for the first time in a long time and everything old was new again.

"It's just exactly like it was when we were here," says Joan Rahn.

"Well it was exactly like I imagined," says Dumstorff. "But it was a lot better shape than I thought."

There was a lot of fellowship among friends and family, all because of one band.

"All the things that I thought would never happen for 50 years happened today," says Dumstorff.
"How do you top this?" asks Clark.
"Go to Heaven," says Dumstorff.

So our story has come full circle, just like the ring that was returned to Red Bud.